Tariff WatchThe duty on an imported article is not one rate. It is the ordinary rate for the classification plus every trade-remedy layer whose scope the article falls within, each computed against the same customs value.
What the answer depends on
Four facts, and all four are needed.
- The classification. The ten-digit statistical line. A four- or six-digit heading is a group of lines whose rates can differ, so it does not settle a duty.
- The country of origin. Where the goods were made or last substantially transformed. Trade remedies are scoped by origin, so this decides which layers apply.
- The date of entry. Actions take effect for goods entered for consumption on or after a stated date. A rate is only correct for the date it was resolved against.
- The customs value. The amount the rates are charged on, and the quantity as well where any rate is charged per unit.
The arithmetic
Additive against one base. No compounding.
Each layer is computed on the customs value and the results are added. A Column 1 rate of two and a half percent with a twenty-five percent Section 232 duty and a seven and a half percent Section 301 duty is thirty-five percent of the customs value, not a rate applied to a duty-inclusive amount.
Two mechanisms depart from that. A Chapter 99 heading stating a bare rate applies in lieu of the Column 1 rate under U.S. note 1 to subchapter III, displacing the base rather than adding to it; other additive headings still stack on top. And paired headings that cap the combined duty replace the Column 1 rate with a flat figure below the threshold.
Where two actions are mutually exclusive, a named instrument says so. Those exceptions are specific: Executive Order 14289 and U.S. notes 38(a) and 39(a) are the operative documents, and there is no general order of precedence between programs beyond what they state.
What sits outside the duty
Fees and antidumping duties are separate.
The merchandise processing fee and the harbor maintenance fee are charges on the entry rather than duties on the goods, and are reported separately. Antidumping and countervailing duties are assessed under separate authority, are set per exporter, and stack with everything else.
Related
Elsewhere on this site.